2017

Investigative Reporter and Editor-in-Chief,  Premières Lignes Télévision (Paris)

Defeating censorship with collaborative journalism  Judge

Laurent Richard is a French investigative journalist and editor-in-chief of Premières Lignes, a television and news agency based in Paris. He is co-founder of the highly reputed inquiry magazine "Cash Investigation" broadcast. Richard graduated from law school and began his career in local television. He freelanced for several years, making documentaries in Kashmir and Israel before accepting a job with the French investigative show "Pièces à Conviction." Following the broadcast of an inquiry into post-traumatic stress in U.S. soldiers in Iraq, he joined the press agency CAPA as editor-in-chief. Richard founded the award winning investigative magazine “The Insiders." In 2011, he was approached by a French television station and asked to develop a new innovative magazine, “Cash Investigation,” dedicated to the business world. In addition to his duties as editor-in-chief, Richard keeps one foot in the field by leading, among others, investigations into dictators in the Caucasus region and Central Asia. “My President Is on a Business Trip,” a 120-minute documentary on the topic, was awarded best investigative report at FIGRA festival in France in 2016. In 2015, he cosigned the book “Reporting Is Not a Crime. Stand Together Against Censorship,” a collective work of 15 French journalists denouncing pressures against the press.